Goal 2: Public Awareness

In 2015, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration released its updated Professional Standards for Educational Leaders. Standard 8f states we must, "Understand, value, and employ the community’s cultural, social, intellectual, and political resources to promote student learning and school improvement." Standard 8i states that school leaders must, "Advocate publicly for the needs and priorities of students, families, and the community." In accordance with these standards, the CPAA Constitution calls on us to "promote public awareness of evolving educational issues."

The previous goal (Goal 1) mentions the lack of public awareness that allows elected officials and the media to paint distorted portraits of our schools that make no attempt to accurately portray the context in which we do our work. This same lack of understanding is at work when it comes to the larger issues such as competition and choice (charter schools), compensation, teacher evaluation and a host of other issues.

Through CPAA, we can come together to research and evaluate policy (see goal 5) in order to form official CPAA positions on issues that impact our schools. That research will involve surveying the literature on best practices, as well as surveying our members to get their feedback on specific policies and policy proposals. Through the media and other information channels we can then use those positions to inform our efforts to give the public an accurate understanding and awareness of the impact--or potential impact--of specific policies.

If the public has a good understanding of the impact of specific policies, it better equips them to hold our public officials accountable for making decisions that will positively impact our schools.

﻿The ideas described here are just a start. Accomplishing our goals will require the active involvement of our members. It will require your energy and your ideas. Please click the "Sign-up" link below to let us know which goals you're interested in helping CPAA pursue, and/or to submit your ideas for accomplishing them. If you are not yet a CPAA member, click the "Join Now" button to become a part of our organization.